Shelby+Moran


 * SUMMARY: Shelby Moran languished in a nursing home for over 20 years after suffering catastrophic brain damage during an abortion performed in January of 1978 by John Barton at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Shelby died on September 16, 1999 at the age of 60.**

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Shelby Jean Anderson Moran, then a 39-year-old mother of five, alleged that she was given Prostaglandin F2 Alpha for a [|safe, legal abortion] at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in January of 1978. She was about four months pregnant.

Immediately after the drug was injected, Shelby experienced grossly abnormal elevation of her blood pressure. The abortionist, Dr. John J. Barton, thought that the elevation would be transient, and left the facility.

Half an hour later, Shelby went into cardiopulmonary arrest. She suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen, causing dementia and speech aphasia.

Shelby, who had previously managed the Oak Lawn Elks Club, was no longer able to care for herself, much less her five children. She required 24-hour care in a nursing home. After a ten-year legal battle, Shelby's family was awarded $9.5 million on her behalf.

Shelby remained in a care facility, unable to look after her own needs, until her death at Hazel Crest on September 16, 1999.

Other women who languished for years in a coma or vegetative state before dying from delayed abortion complications include:


 * @Venus Ortiz, who spent five years in a nursing home before dying in December of 1998
 * Suzanne Logan, who languished, mute and paralyzed, for three years until her death in December of 1992
 * "Gabriella Alonso," who spent six years in a coma until her death in the summer of 2002
 * Christi Stile, who spent nearly 22 years in a vegetative state until her death in March of 2015

Sources:
 * "Brain-damaged woman awarded $9.5 million," //Chicago Sun-Times//, Apr. 15, 1989
 * "Award granted in abortion case," //Easton (MD) Star-Democrat//, Apr. 17, 1989
 * Cook County Circuit Court, Law Division, Case No. 80-L-1539
 * Illinois Appellate Court Nos. 1-89-2165, 1-89-2244, 1-89-2359
 * Social Security Death Index

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